1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the construction of a card connector used for an IC card used as a storage medium of a personal computer or the like, and a compact flash (CF) card used in electronic equipment such as digital cameras.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An IC card connector is generally used as an additional recording apparatus of personal computers. The IC card is widely used as a storage medium of the IC card connector.
The IC card is mounted in the IC card connector to write and read necessary information. To increase the operability of mounting and dismounting the IC card, some IC card connectors have a mechanism of ejecting the IC card and a locking member for locking an IC card to be mounted in a mounting position. Also, to correctly perform reading and writing from and to an IC card, some card connectors detect that the IC card has been locked in a mounting position, before reading or writing data from or to the IC card.
The conventional IC card connector has a sliding member that moves in insertion or ejection direction along with the mounting or dismounting of an IC card, wherein the sliding member has an engaging arm engaged with an engaging part of the IC card. The engaging arm is engaged with the IC card when it is mounted or dismounted, and when the IC card is inserted, the sliding member is moved in the insertion direction as the IC card moves in the insertion direction.
Another conventional IC connector has a locking member for holding a sliding member in an IC card mounting position, a push rod for unlocking the locking member, and a spring member for energizing the sliding member in an ejection direction when the locking member is unlocked, wherein, when the IC card is ejected as the sliding member moves in the ejection direction, the IC card is pushed out in the ejection direction by the energizing force of the spring member.
A known conventional IC card lock detection mechanism is constructed so that a detection switch is provided within a housing, and when an IC card is inserted in the housing and has been locked in a mounting position, the detection switch is pushed by the mounted IC card, whereby it is detected that the IC card has been locked in the mounting position.
However, in the construction of the above-described conventional IC card connectors, a locking mechanism is provided to lock an IC card in a mounting position when it is mounted, and to correctly perform reading and writing from and to the IC card, a detection mechanism for detecting that the IC card has been locked in the mounting position is provided in addition to the locking mechanism. Consequently, the number of parts increases, complicating the connector construction and upsizing the connector. This has been a problem of conventional IC card connectors.
The present invention solves the above-described problem and provides a card connector that has a card locking mechanism and a lock detection mechanism to lock a card and detect that the card has been locked, with a simple construction, without increasing the number of parts.
To solve the above-described problem, as first means, the present invention comprises: a sliding member that can move slidably in directions in which a card mounted in or dismounted from a housing is inserted and ejected; a return spring for energizing the sliding member in a card ejection direction; a locking member for holding the sliding member in a position in which the card is mounted, against an energizing force of the return spring; and fixed contacts, wherein the locking member is formed from an elastically deformable plate spring, which is formed with an anchor for anchoring the sliding member, and moving contacts that can contact or separate from the fixed contacts, wherein the moving contacts are actuated in accordance with engagement and disengagement between the sliding member and the locking member, and wherein it is detected that the card has been held in a mounting position when the sliding member has been anchored to the anchor of the locking member.
As second means, the present invention is characterized in that fixed contacts opposite to the moving contacts are formed in the housing, and as the sliding member moves to a card mounting position, the sliding member pushes the plate spring so that the moving contacts and the fixed contacts contact or separate from each other.
As third means, the present invention is characterized in that the fixed contacts consist of first and second fixed contacts, and the moving contacts contact or separate from the first and second contact as the sliding member moves.
As fourth means, the present invention is characterized in that the locking member is formed from a U-shaped metal plate, one piece thereof disposed at an upper face side is bifurcated opposite to the first and second fixed contacts, and the anchor is formed in the bifurcated notch.
As fifth means, the present invention is characterized in that the locking member is bent to the U-character shape so that one piece thereof disposed at the upper face side is elastically deformable, and another piece thereof disposed at a lower face side is provided with a step bent upward, which provides a gap from the housing so that the other piece can deform elastically.
As sixth means, the present invention is characterized in that a push rod is provided which is disposed so as to move slidably in card insertion and ejection directions and unlocks the locking member to move the sliding member to a card ejection position by a push operation, and the locking member is pushed at one end of the push rod so as to be elastically deformed, whereby a lock between the sliding member and the anchor is undone.